552 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



not appear to have been inhabited during the Neolithic and Bronze Ages, but a 

 tribe acquainted with the use of iron occupied the place several centuries before 

 the beginning of the Christian era, and it was inhabited almost or quite con- 

 tinuously down to the time of the Roman evacuation of Britain. The author thinks 

 this tribe probably arrived about 300 to 200 B.C., certainly not later. For the 

 greater part of the seven centuries a considerable clan lived here, though at one 

 time the only occupant of the refuge was a solitary keeper of goats, perchance 

 the original of the legendary " Witch of Wookey." The cave-folk appear to have 

 been but little affected by the Roman conquest, but certain objects, particularly 

 glass and coins, were more abundant in the upper and more recent layers of 

 refuse. From the time of their first appearance they were in many respects a 

 civilised community. They grew corn on the adjoining hills, had goats and dogs, 

 used oxen as beasts of burden (an iron shoe for an ox was found), worked bronze, 

 lead, tin, and even silver, as well as iron, decorated their pottery beautifully, were 

 skilled weavers, and constantly played games. Apart from the pottery, some of 

 the most remarkable articles found are the weaving combs, made of Red Deer's 

 antler, and the iron saws. The iron specimens are well preserved owing to the 

 exceptional dryness of part of the cave. Yet, in spite of this skill in the arts, 

 Mr. Balch found convincing evidence of cannibalism both in the Pre-Roman and 

 Roman strata, which is another instance of the sociological truism that intellectual 

 progress and moral advancement may be almost completely divorced. 



The decoration of some of the earlier pottery is peculiar, but resembles that 

 seen on some of the Glastonbury Lake Village specimens, and is identical with 

 the contemporary pottery of Armorica. This type of pot is quite absent from the 

 south-eastern counties, though somewhat similar specimens have been found at 

 Hunsbury, Northampton. Mr. Balch infers from this that the people of the Lake 

 Village and cave were not invaders from the south-east, but were voyagers from 

 Brittany, who sailed around Cornwall and settled in Somerset, among the less 

 cultured Bronze Age tribes. They were probably of Iberian stock, though no 

 doubt of Keltic speech. If this be the true theory, these Iron Age settlements 

 must of course be sharply distinguished from the Iron Age Brythons who entered 

 the country by the time-honoured Kentish route. 



The chapter on Paleolithic relics, largely derived from Boyd Dawkins' finds in 

 the Hyena Den, is much below the standard of the rest of the book, as Mr. Balch 

 is unreliable when he passes outside his own special subject. Much indispensable 

 information is omitted, and on p. 176 there is an extraordinarily misleading story 

 of the geographical changes which are supposed to have occurred at the end of 

 the Pleistocene. There are also numerous inaccuracies in the zoology. The 

 author confuses the uninitiated by calling the great Irish deer the " Irish elk" ; on 

 p. 170 there is a reference to "the jaw of an elk," and it is only on finding 

 another mention of the same specimen eighteen pages later that one discovers 

 that the animal referred to is not the elk at all, but the great Irish deer. Boyd 

 Dawkins' list of mammals on p. 186 ought to have been modernised. It is 

 impossible to know which hare is meant here by the name Lepus timidus, and we 

 are even given the unpardonable anachronism, Homo paleolithicus. 



Both text and plates are beautifully produced, but we notice a misprint on 

 P- 56 — " the same the same." 



The long chapter on the Iron Age relics will make this book indispensable to 

 students of Late Prehistoric times. 



A. G. Thacker. 



